Field of the Invention
Embodiments consistent with the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for displaying and accessing contacts in a contact list.
Description of the Related Art
Software applications are designed to perform many different functions and/or display many different types of information. Separate screens or pages within a single application may be required for each separate function provided, and each type of information displayed, by the application. As display devices reduce in size, the screen displays become more and more crowded to accommodate the many different functions and types of information that a user can access. For example, an address book function may include numerous contacts in the form of contact lists. Once the contact list gets too long, it becomes difficult and time consuming to have to scroll to get to a specific contact. Some solutions may include a secondary scrolling option by listing letters A-Z along a portion of a display screen to be able to jump to a specific letter (and thus contacts associated with that letter). However, these solutions may not be sufficient because the area for each of the 26 letters may be very small and difficult to select a specific letter. In addition, these solutions also are unhelpful for users with contacts in several languages/alphabets. Furthermore, these solutions are insufficient because each letter may include scores of contacts and a user must still scroll through many contacts to find the desired contact.
Thus there is a need for a method and apparatus to provide a better way of organizing, displaying and accessing contacts in a contact list.